The title Chief Executive Officer is misleading. A much better description for the tasks faced by CEOs would be Chief Growth Officer, with an emphasis on business development.

Although the boss is indeed chief and an executive director, he or she should have a wider view of the business rather than heading up all day-to-day ‘executing’, taking direct responsibility for putting all the plans in motion, taking charge of all the product lines and productive apparatus and driving all the other people into performing their assigned tasks.

That's why I believe CGO, or Chief Growth Officer, is a better, more accurate title for what the CEO should be doing. But he or she also needs to double up as CIO – the I here stands for 'Ideas' rather than 'Information' - which again shifts the emphasis towards business development.

There are too many voices calling for the CEO's attention, both inside and outside the company.

The emphasis of the title CEO is wrong. The incumbent should also be the CSO, the Chief Supervisory Officer, responsible for ensuring everybody else is on the right track.

However, that responsibility has to be structured and delegated. All top managers must be comfortable with the people who, in turn, are responsible for those below them. As the CISO, or Chief Internal Systems Officer, the CEO has to work towards developing a business that is a living organism that bypasses bureaucracy and puts in its place a fast and effective chain of command.

As for the CEO's role as Chief Ideas Officer, it might not necessarily mean that the incumbent has all or even most of the ideas. They have the essential job of making all their people feel and act like key members of a really creative team.

For more on business development, see http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/business-management/business-development.php

Read more | 0 comments

Posted By Thinking Managers at 9:29 PM in Category:business development

Link directly to this article.

The creative tool of Random Input can open up new avenues of creative thought.

Random Input is one of the basic tools of lateral thinking and can be a very effective catalyst of creativity.

You clearly define a focus of where and why you want new creative ideas. Then you obtain a Random Word to stimulate new thought for the defined focus.
If you begin at the edge, you can find new paths that you would not see from the centre. The Random Word puts you at the edge. As you think your way back to the focus, new thought and ideas are opened up.

However, there are traps to avoid. Don’t just try to seek some sort of connection between the Random Word and the focus. The idea is not to join the two, but to use the Random Word to stimulate thought.

Also, never reject a random word and choose a preferable one. You have to force yourself to use the first Random Word or you will be looking for an easy route instead of stimulating thought and ideas.

For more on thought, see http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/business-management/creativity.php

Read more | 0 comments

Posted By Thinking Managers at 2:06 AM in Category:creativity

Link directly to this article.

Spotting opportunity is the key to entrepreneurship.

The entrepreneur might not necessarily be more skilled than those less successful but the difference in entrepreneurship is spotting opportunities and seizing the chance.

You have to balance your adventurous opportunism with sensible accounting based on sound cash flow and the continuous application of a trading formula that maximises sales profit.

Broadly speaking, there are three types of entrepreneur: type A create new concepts; type B obtain new concepts and go further with them through good management; and type C can create new concepts and go further with them too.

However, not all would-be entrepreneurs fit into these categories. You need to prove you are not the type of entrepreneur who cannot create a concept or obtain one, and cannot manage a concept’s development.

For more on entrepreneurship, see http://www.thinkingmanagers.com

Read more | 0 comments

Posted By Thinking Managers at 12:57 AM in Category:entrepreneurship

Link directly to this article.

Simply understanding creativity isn’t enough, as practice is needed for managers to raise the level of their creative game.

There are the specific and formal skills of lateral thinking, and these can be very powerful. There are also the basic  skills of creativity. When these basic skills are in place, using the deliberate tools of lateral thinking produces more powerful and effective results.

But these skills do not come naturally. They need to be honed and practised. After some time they become natural habits of the mind.

Creativity is a matter of opening up possibilities. Creativity is a matter of playing with possibilities. Creativity is a matter of designing possible ideas. Without possibility there is no creativity.

Possibility is a very important part of doing the exercises in the book. You may arrive at a certain answer, but what other 'possible' answers might there be?

With creativity, good is never good enough. You can always develop the thinking skills involved even further. As you practise the skills, you pick up not only the ability but also confidence. Confidence is a very key part in creativity. If you have confidence in your creativity, you will indeed be more creative.

For more on creativity and lateral thinking, see http://www.thinkingmanagers.com

Read more | 0 comments

Posted By Thinking Managers at 8:38 PM in Category:lateral thinking

Link directly to this article.